Pac-12 basketball rundown: When push comes to shove, it doesn't pay to rile up a player's mom

If Oregon coach Dana Altman had just pushed somebody - anybody - he might be getting equal billing in the Bay Area this week as Cal visits No. 23 Oregon. But all of the talk is about MontygateAP photo

Pac-12 basketball links for Wednesday

Maybe if Dana Altman had shoved somebody - anybody, even the SID - he might be getting equal time this week. Instead, Thursday's game between Cal and No. 23 Oregon at Matt Court (6 p.m., ESPNU) is taking a back seat in the Bay Area because of Montygate. Here's the first few paragraphs from the San Francisco Chronicle's latest story:

For Cal basketball, head coach and top player both hope that the shove seen 'round the sports-sphere has a brief shelf life.

A contrite Mike Montgomery on Tuesday apologized for shoving Allen Crabbe as a motivational ploy during a timeout in Sunday night's game against
USC and said he was "shocked" at the coverage the incident received the
next day.

"It's obvious I made a mistake," Montgomery said. "I
feel very bad about it. Got carried away in the heat of a basketball
game. I apologized to Allen, apologized to the team. In 30-plus years of
coaching, it never happened before. It's something I deeply regret.
It's not going to happen again."

As for the treatment the shove
received as it cycled through Monday's sports news, Montgomery said, "I
was shocked. I was shocked. I've been doing this for a long time. I was a
little surprised the legs it got. I made the bed, got to lay in it. I
thought Allen handled it great."

Crabbe, for his part, seemed
weary and uncomfortable discussing the brief episode that nevertheless
galvanized his play as the Bears rallied from a 15-point deficit in the
second half to defeat the Trojans. He had 23 points and 10 rebounds in
Cal's 76-68 win.

"It was blown out of proportion," he said. "It was an emotional game;
coach tried to get me fired up. People may look at it as the wrong way
to fire up a player. I didn't take anything negative out of
the situation. ...

"He did it as a way to spark my play. I didn't
take it as a negative. He expects a lot out of me. If I want to be a
leader, I can't be lackadaisical."

Stanford Cardinal - Stanford plays at Oregon State Thursday (8 p.m., ESPNU) and the murmurs about an under-performing Cardinal team and coach Johnny Dawkins are rumbling ... Wilner weighs in on the NCAA bubble watch and Dawkins